Hello everyone! I figured it was time to introduce myself because I have been stalking all of you (through your posts of course) for months now. I am originally from New York and after experiencing an "awakening" about 8 years ago my then boyfriend, now husband, and I picked up and moved to one of the most beautiful places on earth, Lake Tahoe. During our first few years here I learned about the festival but could never go as we work in hospitality and always have to work on labor day weekend. Well this year... WE ARE FINALLY MAKING IT TO BM!! YAY! We are backpackers so I am used to not only planning meals and supplies for a week but then, carrying those supplies on my back, so I am not too worried about the radical self-reliance part of BM. I know how to plan for for big events like this (research!) so I have read pretty much everything I can get my hands on, including lots of eplaya message boards... but I still have two lingering questions that I'm hoping you experienced burners can answer for me.

1) We have some nice camping equipment, a tent, a stove, sleeping pads, that I would use, but only if it is not going to get destroyed by playa dust. I don't mind cleaning things afterwards, but it sounds like our stuff may never be the same after a week in the dust. I am willing to buy some "BM only" equipment but I don't want to waste $ if I don't have to.

2) I love to make a LOT of different crafts that I often give away in "real life" (I also sell some on Etsy) so one of the biggest things that draws me to BM is the gifting culture (because our world should be set up this way! everyone gives what they can and we all are in abundance ) Anyway, I have many ideas for what to gift and am looking for guidance on what would be best. Here are my ideas: *Colorful Crochet Moop bags, *Necklace/Bracelet made with crystal beads, *Bejewled BM logo mint tins to act as an ashtray or carrying case for small items, *Bejewled BM logo lighters, *Home-made body butter (I know it will be awesome to fight the intense dryness)

I would seriously consider buying some cheap BM only camping gear. Don't bring your good stuff, it will never be the same. Zippers die quickly out there and you will never quite get the dust/smell of dust out of them. Get some cheap air mattresses and use old sleeping bags for blankets. A cheap $30 dollar Walmart tent is better to sacrifice than your trick ass Northface.

Life's a bitch, then you go to Burning Man - Unjonharley
We welcome the stranger, but that doesn't mean we have to like them, nor they us, and that's alright. - AntiM

Welcome, Rosie! Useful gifts with the Burning Man logo on will probably go over very well. The nice thing about body butter is that sometimes you can kinda see when someone needs it.

The powdery dust does indeed get into everything. Metal that isn't cleaned upon return may rust quickly (bike chains, for example). Anything irreplaceable or hard to clean, indeed--think twice. Washable clothes & sleeping bags do fine. Camp furniture can be cleaned in a shower, or in the yard with a hose.

But I'll admit that I have a Burn tent . . . and a non-Burn tent. And a waterproof camera.

*** 2018 Survival Guide ***
"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

Gifting is great, but don't get overloaded. You'll be in "awe" on your first trip, and really, really, it's the time for you to be "new", experience stuff, immerse yourself. You'll never have another "first year"..........and, well, just makes sure, it's about your experience......gifting can be any time, even the next year.

Thank you all so much for your responses, I feel like I just received my first BM gift! I look forward to meeting moonrise and any other tahoe burners (I did join the regional group but haven't really connected yet). It sounds like Body Butter should be my top gift, I can completely imagine giving that comfort to someone who needs it, especially later in the week. Really, I am just looking forward to random gifting being the norm, because friends and co-workers look at me like I'm crazy when I offer to just give something to them (even if they are truly delighted by the gift) and it kind of discourages me from being who I really am.

As far as the equipment, I think I already knew the answer and was just being cheap, so thanks so much because you convinced me to definitely buy separate equipment and not mess around with our lightweight backpacking stuff.

you could always shop around for good quality used tents/air mattresses; they might be in good enough shape for 3 or 4 burns. and yes to the body butter

welcome!

The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.Chardin

You ought to join Moonrise and an entire hoard of us at the Sands Regency Saturday evening, January 26th. You would meet a bunch of people from many different camps, though most of us are with Barbie Death Camp &Wine Bistro/Barbie Death Village. PM me if you want the info.

Welcome to eplaya!
Seems like you two are well on your way to being super prepared!

RosieTahoe wrote:As far as the equipment, I think I already knew the answer and was just being cheap, so thanks so much because you convinced me to definitely buy separate equipment and not mess around with our lightweight backpacking stuff.

This is probably the best idea. And since you'll be driving in, you don't need the most expensive, "lightweight" gear anyway.
Also, you can get a really big cheap box store tent for less than a good small back packing tent, which its nice to have a larger tent for a week long trip.
We finally opted to buy a ginormous tent for Bman, and I Love IT! I'm about 6 foot tall, so a taller tent means I don't have to put my pants on laying down all week.

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~piehole
Plan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

theCryptofishist wrote:If you were local, I'd give you my air mattresses. I've had too many of them die on me up there to want to use one myself...

Aye. I hate air mattresses.

If I wanted to wear an ice-cold Human Chalupa costume, I'd sure as @#$% light it up with some E.L. wire, and wear it where other people could admire it.

Motz had success with an air mattress in years past because it was a particularly sturdy model, queen-size, and insulated by a number of blankets and comforters befitting a box truck driver with lots of hauling space.

*** 2018 Survival Guide ***
"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

illy dilly wrote:
We finally opted to buy a ginormous tent for Bman, and I Love IT! I'm about 6 foot tall, so a taller tent means I don't have to put my pants on laying down all week.

My husband is 6'1" so I'm sure he will appreciate not having to squirm on the ground to change clothes... Although the thought of that makes me smirk because I'm only 5' tall and I can almost stand up in our backpacking tent! What ginormous tent did you end up buying may I ask?

I'm pretty partial to car camping with an air mattress, the one we currently have has been used to sleep on the ground at least 25 times so I thought it would be perfect for the playa but now you guys are making me paranoid about even using that! There is nothing worse then waking up in the middle of your sleep to find that you are literally on the ground Maybe I'll bring two just in case? Do most tent campers just sleep on the ground?!

You will need to insulate yourself from the Playa surface the same as you would in the mountains. As you know, the ground will suck the heat right out of your body. I use an air mattress with 2 blankets on top and then my Thermarest on top of that with a sleeping bag opened up like a blanket over me. Bring a patch kit for the air mattress.

Life's a bitch, then you go to Burning Man - Unjonharley
We welcome the stranger, but that doesn't mean we have to like them, nor they us, and that's alright. - AntiM

illy dilly wrote:
We finally opted to buy a ginormous tent for Bman, and I Love IT! I'm about 6 foot tall, so a taller tent means I don't have to put my pants on laying down all week.

My husband is 6'1" so I'm sure he will appreciate not having to squirm on the ground to change clothes... Although the thought of that makes me smirk because I'm only 5' tall and I can almost stand up in our backpacking tent! What ginormous tent did you end up buying may I ask?

I'm pretty partial to car camping with an air mattress, the one we currently have has been used to sleep on the ground at least 25 times so I thought it would be perfect for the playa but now you guys are making me paranoid about even using that! There is nothing worse then waking up in the middle of your sleep to find that you are literally on the ground Maybe I'll bring two just in case? Do most tent campers just sleep on the ground?!

I sleep on a marvelous folding camp cot with mattress purchased from a certain hippie camping co-op. (I love storing things under it). Bedding: a comforter folded double, blanket, flat sheet. That way I have something for all temperature levels. Sometimes it's warm at night for a time, sometimes it gets very, very cold.

Having a tent you can stand up in is marvelous for comfort no matter how tall you are. By day 3, hunching over isn't fun, nor is the alternative--crawling around on nylon atop the hard playa. (Bruises!)

A tall tent and a camping cot are quite literally my two favorite comforts.

*** 2018 Survival Guide ***
"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

RosieTahoe wrote: What ginormous tent did you end up buying may I ask?

Not trying to promote any brand or particular store. But, this is the tent we got. Though, we got it in mid August and it was on an end of summer sale, about 25% off or so. http://www.big5sportinggoods.com/produc ... -tent.html
We do really like about it, is that it has 3 doors. We put our bed at one of the long end, put all suit cases, and rubber made clothes containers along the sides, and only used the small door at the other end. We didn't use the big 'main' door, because then we were stepping in right by our bed. Having the long narrow tent, allowed us to take our shoes and coats off at one end away from our bed. That side of the tent was way dustier than our bed end.

The last few years we used air mattresses as well, and at some point through the week, you're waking up on the ground.
Not a big fan of the air mattresses anymore. At least not for over 7 days. A few days in the mountains and they work fine. They alsways end up giving me a sore back, since weight doesn't distribute properly, and when one person lays down it sort of pops the other person up a bit.
So, for 2012 we brought the mattress from the Futon in our basement.
Totally kicked ass! Super warm at night, nice and soft but still kinda firm.
We wrapped it in a dovet cover, then put a fitted sheet on top of that, then we washed those when we got home. The mattress it self stayed pretty dust free.

Savannah wrote:
I sleep on a marvelous folding camp cot with mattress purchased from a certain hippie camping co-op. (I love storing things under it). Bedding: a comforter folded double, blanket, flat sheet. That way I have something for all temperature levels. Sometimes it's warm at night for a time, sometimes it gets very, very cold.

Cots pretty much do kick ass! Especially newer ones, the old school canvas and aluminum pole "army" style are good but not great.
BUT! Most cots are Twin size... and even pushed together don't make a very good Double or Queen size bed.

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~piehole
Plan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

Savannah wrote:Well, if I were sharing sleeping quarters and had the space to transport one, I would definitely opt for a futon or real mattress.

Or custom order a double wide cot....

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~piehole
Plan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

I'm overwhelmed by all the awesome suggestions Thanks so much illy dilly for posting that link and for the detailed description of how you use the tent as well. I have a bunch of large tents bookmarked with BM in mind and the tent you posted is almost half the price of them! And I think your description of how you set up the tent will be helpful regardless of what tent we end up buying.

We have a really awesome air mattress and a really crappy futon mattress so taking all of your suggestions in mind I'm thinking we're gonna get the best of many worlds if we put our crappy futon mattress underneath our awesome air mattress. That way we will never end up on the ground, and if the air mattress were to become irreparable on the playa we still have the futon mattress...

RosieTahoe wrote:We have a really awesome air mattress and a really crappy futon mattress so taking all of your suggestions in mind I'm thinking we're gonna get the best of many worlds if we put our crappy futon mattress underneath our awesome air mattress. That way we will never end up on the ground, and if the air mattress were to become irreparable on the playa we still have the futon mattress...

And you know, if you stack all that on top of two cots pushed together, you want even have to climb out of bed!

RosieTahoe wrote:I'm overwhelmed by all the awesome suggestions Thanks so much illy dilly for posting that link and for the detailed description of how you use the tent as well. I have a bunch of large tents bookmarked with BM in mind and the tent you posted is almost half the price of them! And I think your description of how you set up the tent will be helpful regardless of what tent we end up buying.

All the big tents on the market, outside of really expensive Army and Kodiak/Spring-Bar tents have a lot of mesh on top of them. Most are designed for fair weather camping where dust storms are an issue. To solve this issue use Anti-M's Patented: Spring Clipped Bed Sheet Mesh Block.

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~piehole
Plan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

RosieTahoe wrote:All the big tents on the market, outside of really expensive Army and Kodiak/Spring-Bar tents have a lot of mesh on top of them. Most are designed for fair weather camping where dust storms are an issue. To solve this issue use Anti-M's Patented: Spring Clipped Bed Sheet Mesh Block.

How do I find out more about this "patented method"? Because, yes, I noticed that exact problem with the mesh and the only tent I found without it is expensive. Do you clip the bed sheet to the inside or outside of the tent?

RosieTahoe wrote:All the big tents on the market, outside of really expensive Army and Kodiak/Spring-Bar tents have a lot of mesh on top of them. Most are designed for fair weather camping where dust storms are an issue. To solve this issue use Anti-M's Patented: Spring Clipped Bed Sheet Mesh Block.

How do I find out more about this "patented method"? Because, yes, I noticed that exact problem with the mesh and the only tent I found without it is expensive. Do you clip the bed sheet to the inside or outside of the tent?

RosieTahoe wrote:All the big tents on the market, outside of really expensive Army and Kodiak/Spring-Bar tents have a lot of mesh on top of them. Most are designed for fair weather camping where dust storms are an issue. To solve this issue use Anti-M's Patented: Spring Clipped Bed Sheet Mesh Block.

How do I find out more about this "patented method"? Because, yes, I noticed that exact problem with the mesh and the only tent I found without it is expensive. Do you clip the bed sheet to the inside or outside of the tent?

Typically on the outside of the mesh, between the rainfly and the tent.
The rain fly helps keep it held down.
We thought based on the width and length of the tent that two sheets sized for a Double bed would work. One sheet for each side. But, we were wrong. I'd say get queen or king size sheets and tuck any extra up under the rain fly.

Only once during the week did we have to reattach the sheet.
Also, worth noting, 2012 was our first time using this method.

ygmir wrote:MDF seems to have a good technique, too.

What is MDF's method?

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~piehole
Plan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

RosieTahoe wrote:All the big tents on the market, outside of really expensive Army and Kodiak/Spring-Bar tents have a lot of mesh on top of them. Most are designed for fair weather camping where dust storms are an issue. To solve this issue use Anti-M's Patented: Spring Clipped Bed Sheet Mesh Block.

How do I find out more about this "patented method"? Because, yes, I noticed that exact problem with the mesh and the only tent I found without it is expensive. Do you clip the bed sheet to the inside or outside of the tent?

illy dilly wrote:Typically on the outside of the mesh, between the rainfly and the tent.
The rain fly helps keep it held down.
We thought based on the width and length of the tent that two sheets sized for a Double bed would work. One sheet for each side. But, we were wrong. I'd say get queen or king size sheets and tuck any extra up under the rain fly.

Only once during the week did we have to reattach the sheet.
Also, worth noting, 2012 was our first time using this method.

The Spring Clamps are the key. I believe AntiM uses spring clamps + fleece, because fleece is light and thick.

I discovered spring clamps in a hardware store just over years ago and bought a sackful without even knowing what I wanted 'em for. Found immediate uses on the playa, though. They're good for so many things, and cheap as well.

*** 2018 Survival Guide ***
"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

I am so grateful for all of your extremely helpful hints, if the people on the actual playa are anything like the people here on eplaya you all just made me even more excited to come "home"! (and seriously, I thought that was impossible because I'm pretty much obsessed)

Dr. Pyro wrote:You ought to join Moonrise and an entire hoard of us at the Sands Regency Saturday evening, January 26th. You would meet a bunch of people from many different camps, though most of us are with Barbie Death Camp &Wine Bistro/Barbie Death Village. PM me if you want the info.

Good idea Doc.

Welcome RosieTahoe and your other half!

Most of the Tahoe Burners and bigger Tahoe Burning Man events are in South Lake Tahoe but we do dot the entire basin and we do fun stuff on all four shores.

I stay away from beads entirely while 'on playa' and you have my vote for handmade body butter.

Everyone gave you plenty of good info so far but I know I can give you advice/suggestions that'll smoooth out your first BIG BURN!
Please feel free to PM me anytime and I'll be happy to shoot you my ph# to discuss your gear situation/choices.

I'm the MAN in a truck, burner who is stuck, you're in luck! I'll whip out my BIG tow chain and not charge you, not even one lousy buck!

Thanks for the kind words Lucky420, I did stalk the eplaya for months before I posted so I knew better then to ask silly questions, and there are so many freaking questions to ask, why should I ask things that have been answered 500 times? I don't blame you guys at all for the snarkiness after behavior like that!

Moonrise, I think I am actually going to be able to make it down to the Sands at the end of January so it looks like I will get to ask you questions in person! (I have been PMing with Doc) Also, I live in Tahoma so it is pretty easy for me to make it down to South Lake. I really am excited to meet you guys and I hope you all play nice because I won't know anyone...